Dark Father
by David Scholes
Summary: The inconceivably powerful Dark Father, seeks to take advantage of the convergence of the different realities. This brings him into direct confrontation with Lord Odin of Asgard and hos son the Mighty Thor! Please read on!


Dark Father

**Dark Father (part 1)**

The almost countless realities were converging on one another at an alarming rate.

As reality crunched upon reality only the strongest of them survived. These were the realities with sufficient great powers acting in unison to protect them. Such as our own reality.

Another reality though was also prevailing. It did not have large numbers of great powers. Only one great power really. The oldest still existing entity among all the realities. He who was known as the Dark Father.

Dark father was the ultimate manipulator of realities. He was counterbalanced but barely by a loose association of great powers from all the major realities. These included the Living Tribunal, Eternity, Infinity, Odin the All Mighty and others unknown and unknowable to such as we.

Some thought that the Dark Father had caused the convergence of realities. But it was a natural phenomenon. He did however gladly hasten it along.

None of the great powers in any of the realities looked to help from he who was once above us all. They knew that entity no longer existed. Long millennia ago the creator had dispersed the goodness that was him among almost all the realities.

It was disquieting for those that knew the truth of it. While he who was above us all no longer existed, his dark counterpart the anti-God lived on. Dark father was and is the anti-God. The darkest one of all did not seek dominion over all the realities. For long millennia he was content to rule his own reality. In that dark place no one challenged him. Neither from within nor from without. From time to time he toyed with other realities manipulating them almost at will. At least until the loose association of great powers of all the other realities partially countered him.

The form almost always taken by Dark Father, bore remarkable similarity to Allfather Odin, liege lord of Asgard. The rumor still whispered by the few was that Odin and all things Asgardian were but a creation long ago of Dark Father when he entered our reality. An experiment, a dabbling by the darkest lord of all in the lighter magics, a rare use of more benign mystical powers. The rumor had it that at a point in time a mature Odin was created along with other Asgardians and complete with memories of a rich glorious past that were a total fabrication. Those that held to this view argued that the memories of all who might otherwise know the truth were altered so that the true origins of Asgard would never be known. Save perhaps the Living Tribunal.

Before all others, even Odin himself, Dark Father saw that the continuing convergence of the realities would lead to only two remaining realities ours and its.

Even if Asgard was naught but a distant past creation of the Dark Father it had surely evolved and long since taken its own direction in the affairs of the Multiverse. Or had the Dark Father implanted suggestions in the mind of his greatest creation that would forever bring mighty Odin within his thrall when he so desired? These doubts persisted with just a few among the great powers of the realities. Still everything that had happened since this theoretical time seemed to give the lie to the rumors.

Only the inevitable coming battle between Odin, Thor and the Dark Father would yield the truth ripping it away from the rumors and fabrications for all to see.

With the accelerating convergence of all the remaining realities the protection of our own reality power occupied all the great efforts of Odin, Eternity, Infinity, Galactus and our other great powers. The Dark Father protected his own reality but still had time for forays into and the manipulation of various other realities.

Among these forays the anti-God found time to visit golden Asgard while Odin was elsewhere.

**Asgard**

The huge ethereal image of what seemed to be two eyes formed imperceptibly far above Asgard City. At first the image even managed to elude Heimdall's famed sensory capabilities.

When his senses were finally aroused Heimdall trumpeted the alarm as dark energies designed to incinerate all of Asgard in milli-seconds lanced from the eyes and met unexpected resistance. Odin's son an entity that Dark Father had deemed unworthy of consideration had rotated his hammer at near infinite speed creating a shield not just about his person but protecting all of continental Asgard. The seldom spoken of Shield of Thor effect said to be the equal of the Odin Shield itself.

Dark Father knew little of the Odinson. Like some other enemies of Asgard he assumed that all the power of Asgard flowed from Odin and that nothing else Asgardian mattered.

Thus was Dark Father denied the quick and cheap victory he had anticipated in the temporary absence of Allfather Odin.

Still the darkest one of all pressed the attack. With the Thor shield created and fully in place Thor ceased rotating his hammer and began using it to absorb the dark energies that were already starting to leak through cracks and fissures appearing all over the shield.

With his initial attack slowed if not thwarted and aware that Almighty Odin was only moments away the frustrated anti-God raised the stakes.

A giant wraithlike hand reached right through the crunching, converging realities seeking to grasp all of Asgard, wrench it away from our own reality and transport it to Dark Father's own reality. In that place surely even Odin himself could not protect it.

As the mighty Thor struggled to keep Asgard in our reality, Odin and Infinity arrived. Dark Father ceased his attack and retreated immediately. Now was not the time for a confrontation with Odin. Also the unanticipated power of Thor was troubling him.

Although Dark Father had now departed some of the dark energies absorbed in the head of mjolnir did not immediately follow its master. Not for the first time in his existence an element of evil resided in mighty Thors hammer. Thor moved to expel the evil but not before great Odin analyzed the evil energies at a fundamental level.

"Interesting" said Infinity.

"Aye" replied Odin "it gives us an insight we never had before."

"If necessary you can synthesize it, even fuse it with other energies?" said Infinity.

"Synthesize it yes!" remarked Odin "but there is nothing the energies of evil can be fused with" Odin continued "always will they subsume anything they are merged with."

"We are hard pressed to protect our own reality" said Infinity "yet the anti-God seems to protect its own dark reality and still carry out its endless manipulations throughout the other realities." "Even during this time of convergence" finished Infinity.

"We need to distract it" said Odin "a distraction of such force and power that it is obliged to concentrate purely on its own reality." "Forced to cease its other reality manipulations and to cease its deliberate acceleration of the convergence." finished the Allfather.

"I saw that even it was taken aback by the power of your son!" said Infinity.

"Those who espouse evil usually are" said Odin.

--

Dark Father (part 2)

When the myriad realities began to converge on one another it placed strains on the loose alliance of great powers that had heretofore partially countered Dark Father.

It became a case of every reality for itself. With the alliance in tatters the anti-God was again free to manipulate all but the strongest realties. It troubled him not at all that the realities were all converging on one another. Indeed he was accelerating the process. Nor did the convergence affect his ability to travel among the realities or be in many different realities at the same time.

The great powers of the realities, in a final meeting, agreed to Odin's request that the mighty Thor, enter the Dark Father reality, there to engage and distract it for as long as was possible. To give the Living Tribunal, Odin and other great powers time to reverse the reality convergence and something more.

Such was the supreme arrogance of the Dark Father that as the most powerful warrior god in all existences entered his reality the anti-God was not even present. It was simultaneously in dozens of other realities accelerating their destruction.

Dark Father could be forgiven for not anticipating the arrival of the son of Odin as no entity had willingly and knowingly entered this reality in long millennia.

As he entered the darkest reality of all, Thor was assailed by the all pervasive stench of pure evil. In some places it was so palpable as to take tangible forms. Among them slow moving morasses of highly viscous semi-liquid darkness to drown the noblest of souls and ice black lattices that cried out hatred beyond conception. Thor sensed also an ethereal flow of minute particles between areas of greater and lesser evil. Winds of evil of a sort.

Even with the darkest one of all briefly absent it was a place of constant danger. Limitless numbers of hate filled minions lurked, more detectable from their emanations of savage evil than their hidden physical presences. The threat of imminent attack was constant.

There was no light here as we understand it, though a god could see, after a fashion, using other methods.

Odin and Thors gambit had initial success. The anti-God withdrew from all the realities in which it was engaged choosing to confront Thor in its entirety. In part Dark Father was angered at the unprecedented intrusion. More than this though, the slaying of the son of its greatest enemy was worthy of its undivided attention.

"You are more than foolhardy to have come little godling" boomed the darkest one of all "even your father cannot help you here" "You have come simply to die, and horribly at that."

With that Dark Father almost disdainfully raised his hand and with a slight rotation of his wrist gestured towards a corner of this reality. From it came a host of enemies from Thors past: Surtur, Ymir, Dormammu, Perrikus of the Dark Gods, Thanos, Mangog and others.

All these entities were evil in their own right but here in this place every single one of them seemed more brutal more evil even than Thor remembered. They rushed on mass at Thor tearing at each other to be first to get at the Thunder God.

Dark Father watched on with what appeared to be genuine interest as to how Thor might deal with such seemingly overwhelming force.

He did not have to wait long. The son of Odin held on to his hammers thong as he spun about with it at near infinite speed. Then he called upon his own life force to be as one with the hammer supreme. The force field created by Thors spinning motion was replaced by an ever expanding sphere of godly energies. Outside of the expanding sphere of godblast energies lightning of a voltage hitherto unknown and anti-force energies crackled and raged. It was such an impressive sight that it gave even Dormammu pause. In this form Thor spun directly into the path of his past enemies, or Dark Fathers facsimile creations as seemed more likely. All of them perished in the onslaught.

If the Dark Lord was surprised at the speed and decisiveness of Thors victory against such an assemblage he showed no sign of it.

"As you are essentially a being much disposed to the physical" said Dark father "I will momentarily indulge you in this" With that the most powerful single entity in all the realities moved to engage the mighty Thor in close quarter combat.

As the two grappled Dark Father sought to incinerate Thor while holding him in its unbreakable grip. In truth the Odinson felt his own force field protection fail, he felt his clothing and armor burn from him. Mjolnir became pitted and cracked and he felt even his Asgardian flesh beginning to burn and fall away from his body. Some of his bones were showing. Despite this the god of thunder felt he was still very much in the fight. He felt that Dark Father was operating more against his mind than his body.

Time seemed to be elapsing differently in this reality. Thor felt that even if he held his ground against Dark Father for an eternity, in the realities beyond insufficient time would elapse for the great powers to execute Odin's plan.

Feeling himself starting to lapse into unconsciousness Thor allowed himself to enter the briefest moment of controlled warriors madness. Gathering every muscle in his body Thor struck with the full force of the Thor blow.

For the first time in all eternity Dark Father cried out in pain and also for the first time in eternity his unbreakable grip was broken. At that point the Odin like form, the elaborate pretense, that Dark Father had adopted for so long began to dissipate and became one with the reality. At that moment the horrible truth that even Odin had not fully realized became apparent to Thor. The entire Dark Father reality was a single sentient being – the true Dark Father or anti-God.

The mighty Thor, hammer in hand. readied himself as he came under attack from the entire living reality that was the true Dark Father.

Moments into the battle though, numerous converging realities came crashing into the Dark Father reality.

Led by Odin and the Living Tribunal, and with Dark Father otherwise occupied, the great powers of the surviving realities had sought to halt the continuing convergence of the realities. Although unable to accomplish this, they had been able to remove some of the central realities from the convergence process. Also they had altered the entire axis of convergence such that the remaining realities were all converging on the Dark Father reality.

The anti-God, totally occupied by its battle with Thor, had not perceived this until it was too late.

It was caught in a moment of indecision. Whether a part of it should flee from the destruction or whether to go down fighting destroying as many other realities as it could in the process.

With the mighty Thor so close and other great powers blocking all avenues of partial escape the entire living reality that was Dark Father ceased to be. Totally crushed under the weight of the other realities converging upon it.

Odin, Eternity, Infinity, and the Living Tribunal looked down upon the cauldron of destruction from one of the surviving high realities. Acting in unison they sought to retrieve the architect of victory from the annihilation. Their actions were not necessary.

Thor Odinson already moved quietly among them.


End file.
